Wikia acquires Grub distributed search indexing system — Wikia, the company created by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, has acquired the Grub distributed indexing system from LookSmart and is preparing to distribute Grub's code under an open source license. Wikia plans to use Grub …

Google vs Jimmy Wales & Open Source Search — Jimmy Wales, the founder of not-for profit Wikipedia and for-profit, San Mateo, Calif.-based Wikia is part of a growing number of people who are discomforted by the growing control Google over search. And he is doing something about it.

For NowPublic Citizen Journalism Seems to Work — NowPublic, a Vancouver-based citizen journalism site has raised $10.6 million in Series A funding from Rho Ventures/Rho Canada, Brightspark, and the Working Opportunity Fund. — So first off, that's a boatload of cash in the web news business and we're not saying it's justified.

HD DVD Camp Scoffs at Blu-ray, Target Deal — HD DVD Group downplays Sony's deal with Target — Target revealed last week that it would begin carrying the Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc player this October. The announcement was significant as the Sony player would be the retailer's …

Japanese Porn Industry Embraces Blu-Ray Disc — Japanese adult film makers have turned decisively to Blu-ray Disc, breathing new life into its bid to replace DVDs as the disc of choice for home movies. — Recommend this story? — The HD DVD high-definition movie format may have the lead …

New Vista fix packs provide updates promised for SP1 — Microsoft has rolled out to select testers two new Windows Vista fix packs that deliver many of the same updates expected to be provided by Vista Service Pack (SP) 1. — The fix packs (detailed in Knowledge Base articles 938194 and 938979) …

Gates sees no Google threat in phone software: report — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp.'s Bill Gates does not see Google Inc. becoming a successful competitor in the market for software for cellular phones, the New York Times reported on its Web site on Monday.

Telecoms: It's the network, stupid — What's behind recent high-profile telecom failures? Operators not in control of their own destinies, says Fortune's Stephanie Mehta. — NEW YORK (Fortune) — At first blush, telecom flameouts SunRocket and Amp'd don't have a lot in common.

FCC to Rule on Wireless Auction — Lobbying Intense As Google Seeks To Open Market — The Federal Communications Commission will set the rules tomorrow governing the auction of $15 billion of public airwaves, a decision with stakes so high that the major U.S. cellular carriers and Google …

Google lawyer: YouTube filtering system coming this fall — YouTube has claimed for months that it would soon be rolling out content filtering tools that could help keep copyrighted material from being uploaded, but details have been vague. Late last week, a Google lawyer revealed that filtering will be coming this fall.

Bora Yoon Plays Music in the Key of Mobiles — "A cell phone is as good an instrument as a piano," says Bora Yoon, a 27-year-old Korean-American who is becoming famous for playing the portable phone as a musical instrument. On Friday Yoon performed at the Time Warner Center's Jazz …